February 23, 2018
Four new deals worth a total of more than $80m are expected to generate nearly 50 new skilled jobs. Tamar Hydro in Exeter was selected in November to build hydro turbines for Indonesia, while Taylor Bros in Hobart will build two high-powered Antarctic landing barges for Australia’s new icebreaker RSV Nuyina. Meanwhile Liferaft Systems Australia (LSA) has signed a contract to build inflatable marine evacuation systems for a new class of warship being built in Britain, and Penguin Composites is working on its first major Defence-related contract and putting on 15 new employees. Tamar Hydro will create 20 new positions after signing the contract to build turbines for an extensive mini-hydro network in Indonesia; the deal is expected to bring in about $45m over three years. General Manager, David Hillier, said it was a significant coup for the Exeter-based business, which is now looking for a larger factory in the Westbury or Bell Bay areas. “This contract will bring us into the modern age with new machinery,” he said. “A…
February 23, 2018
Star Cutter Company specialises in carbide and preform manufacturing, cutting tools and CNC machines for tool/cutter grinding and hob sharpening. Founded in Detroit in 1927, the company today operates six manufacturing facilities at strategic locations throughout Michigan. Since 1998, Star Cutter has partnered with NUM in development of application-specific CNC hardware and software. During the course of this collaboration, the two companies have advanced cutting tool machine technology significantly – Star Cutter currently manufactures seven highly specialised lines of machine tools, six of which are based on NUM’s CNC systems. Star Cutter originally used Fanuc controllers for its machines. However, with a goal to bring its customers even more capability and ease in realising complex tool forms, as well as to gain more flexibility and speed in integration of third-party motors and simplify the development of control…
February 23, 2018
HP has expanded its HP Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing technology into Australia, announcing iOrthotics as the first commercial customer to purchase an HP Jet Fusion 3D 4200 Printing Solution in the country. Adopting HP Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing technology will allow iOrthotics to become one of the first orthotics manufacturers in the world to have completely transitioned from polypropylene milling to 3D additive manufacturing – a faster, more sustainable method producing custom-made orthotics devices that are significantly stronger. iOrthotics recognised the economic benefits that would flow from digitising their operations and shifting to the market’s most advanced 3D printing innovations to produce products faster, superior in quality and with almost zero waste. “Patients depend upon their orthotics for comfort and wellbeing, so it is only natural that they expect these devices to be strong, sturdy and dependable,” said Dean Hartley, founding Director and General Manager, iOrthotics. “The extensive research and testing we conducted with the University of Queensland provided the empirical evidence that devices manufactured by HP’s Multi Jet Fusion 3D…
February 23, 2018
Following many years working in the sheet metal industry, Jon Flynn founded Wildcat Industries around 10 years ago. Based in Dandenong, Victoria, the business now employs 20 people across four divisions: high-tolerance sheet metal work; architectural facade work; the manufacture of high-tech wood and gas flue systems; and most recently, Wildcat wood-fired pizza ovens. While the architectural division services clients throughout Australia, the sheet metal work is predominantly Melbourne-based. Wildcat offers custom perforated panels to the architectural, building, construction, interior design and landscaping industry. Flynn already had extensive experience dealing with Applied Machinery having, in his own words, “virtually bought every single piece of equipment to date” from them. “The Applied Machinery people look after me as though they are part of my business,” says Flynn. “The service, support and warranty are very important for me and Applied excel in this area. So the decision to buy a Yawei fibre laser from Applied Machinery was both a…
February 16, 2018
For the majority of manufacturers, like gas, electricity and water, compressed air will be an indispensable utility to their operation. However, unlike gas, electricity and water, compressed air is more often than not produced the conventional way – via a compressed air system that the manufacturer actually owns. Here, the manufacturer not only pays for the utility itself (the compressed air produced), but at some point in time will have had the capital outlay for the purchase of the compressed air equipment, as well as the ongoing costs to service and maintain the compressed air system. Compressed air contracting presents a viable alternative to investing in, and maintaining your own compressed air system. Here, the end user simply purchases the compressed air they use, in the same way they would purchase gas, electricity or water. And, they can immediately enjoy the advantages…
January 26, 2018
South Australian-based car battery handle supplier Rope & Plastic Group had a successful business in Australia and the United States before the automotive industry’s decline. However, the company has now begun manufacturing clotheslines. According to owner John Sutton the transition was an obvious choice. “We were supplying car battery company Exide with handles, cases and lids, so it was a very lucrative business,” he explained. “In the meantime about five or six years beforehand we got involved with a company called Mrs Peggs Clotheslines, and started to manufacture, warehouse and distribute clotheslines in China. “About the same time that Exide decided to close down their manufacturing operations, Mrs Peggs came to us and said they were going to take back the business and run it themselves. We had a double whammy.” With the automotive industry offering no real future, Sutton decided to draw on the company’s experience in clothesline manufacturing to design and manufacture his own washing line. The venture was assisted by a $200,000 grant through the SA…
January 26, 2018
Eilbeck Cranes – Lifting capabilities A third-generation family-owned business in its 110th year in operation, Eilbeck Cranes is now Australia’s largest and most advanced crane manufacturer, towering over the Australian crane market due to its engineering and manufacturing excellence. Today Eilbeck has manufacturing facilities in Sydney, Western Australia, Mackay in Queensand, and a new facility currently under construction in Melbourne, as well as service centres around the country. Eilbeck Director Tom Eilbeck took the bold move in 2015 and invested massively into the development of the Eilbeck Heavy Machining Centre. This daring decision was not only aimed at gaining competitive advantage, but also an investment in the future of Australian manufacturing and the security of future Australian jobs. Investment over the last two years has been significant for this company, with the installation of the Okuma MB8000H CNC horizontal machine centre with OSP P300M control in 2016, followed this year by an Okuma Genos…
January 26, 2018
Throughout its long history, turning in the conventional direction – namely starting at the end of the workpiece and working longitudinally towards the chuck – has prevailed. Although this technique has proved successful, as the process has matured, ongoing advances in productivity and profitability have been increasingly difficult to achieve. Many are bound by the limitations of traditional turning. For instance, while experienced operators are aware that factors such as small entry angles permit increased feeds, they are restricted to around 90 degrees in conventional turning in order to reach the shoulder and avoid the long, curved chips that small entering angles characteristically provide. In recent years, the advent of…
January 19, 2018
In high and low-wage countries, interest in the many benefits of industrial robots has never been higher. Released last year, the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) Industrial Robots report showed unit sales figures in 2015 up 15% on the year before, reaching an all-time high of 253,748. Since 2010, technical improvements in robots and automation have turbocharged investment, according to the report. Furthermore, double digit percentage growth is predicted to continue every year up to 2019 . However, within CNC machining, robotics applications have been dominated by machine tending. Overall, the benefits enjoyed by industrial users of robots – such as accuracy, productivity and capacity utilisation – have been under-realised by machine tool users. According to 2012 IFR research, only 1.5% of machine tools were being automated in conjunction with robots . Nonetheless, this trend is starting to shift, with robots becoming increasingly affordable and easy to program – making the technology more accessible to the CNC grinding market. Global influences are also having an impact, such as the South…
January 18, 2018
Many of us have experienced that nervous feeling you get when you’re following a trailer that has begun to sway and it would appear that at any moment it could fishtail out of control. Worse still is the feeling of a loss of control while negotiating the twists and gradient of the road with a trailer in tow. Both circumstances can be stressful, and for both driver and surrounding traffic, potentially very hazardous. Trailers can easily become unstable and cause accidents when braking, swerving, overtaking, driving in high winds or on difficult roads. In 2016, loss of control accounted for 30% of caravan accident claims, with oversteering and fishtailing among the main causes. The need for a solution to this problem was identified by Bosch’s Australian Vehicle Safety Systems engineering team. This prompted an innovation idea and subsequent R&D project in 2014. The parent company acknowledged the local engineering capability and market opportunity, which led to the establishment of a Bosch global Centre of Competence for…
January 16, 2015
Only two of the seven activity sub-indexes – those for employment (up 4.7 points to 52.5) and exports (up 2.9 points to 51.0) – were above 50 points this month (readings below 50 indicate a contraction in activity, with the distance from 50 indicative of the strength of the decrease). The new orders sub-index fell sharply (down 10.6 points to 43.7) following two months of mild expansion, reflecting slower growth or a decline in new orders across the manufacturing sub-sectors. Manufacturing production also contracted for a second month (down 1.4 points to 46.0). Reflecting the weak trading conditions, supplier deliveries (down 3.5 points 48.5) and stocks (almost unchanged at 45.4) also contracted in December. Ai Group Chief Executive, Innes Willox, said: "We would have hoped to have seen a stronger Australian PMI® in the lead-up to Christmas, but the finding is consistent with other publicly released data. Respondents to the Australian PMI® welcomed the further depreciation in the Australian dollar, but noted that the level of…